Maputo, Mozambique — Some 55,000 families, affected by flooding in central Mozambique, are in urgent need of seeds and agricultural tools to help them resume farming after the devastation of their crops.

At a time when the spotlight is on the post-flood resettlement process, "it becomes necessary to provide seeds and agricultural tools to face the second planting season," said Silvano Langa, the Director of the National Disaster Management Institute (INGC), Friday.

The relief aid still coming into the country is not enough to meet the needs of the destitute peasant families, he said.

The donors have pledged 636.5 tonnes of seeds (maize, beans and vegetables) and 135,700 tools, mainly machetes, hoes and axes.

Meanwhile, the INGC still faces difficulties in channelling aid to the affected areas. Currently aid is channelled by road or boats, and the roads are still in very poor shape. Air operations stopped on 27 April.

"There are seeds available in Zambezia but there is the problem of taking them to the affected areas," said Langa.

The roads have proved to be a major constraint on the relief operations, and the government is now making a major effort to repair flood-damaged roads.

Meanwhile, the levels of the major rivers in the region continue to fall.

As the rivers return to normal, assessment work on what is needed for post-flood reconstruction is gathering steam.

Langa said that it would be possible by the end of next week to produce definitive data on the financial and material needs to be presented to the donor conference to be held in Maputo towards the end of May.

The donors, he said, have so far disbursed 20 million US dollars in response to government appeals for emergency aid. At the height of the floods, the government appealed for over 36 million US dollars.